Information for customers

Principle

For your energy efficiency policy to be successful, it is essential to involve your customers. We strongly recommend that you let them know you care about the environment, and encourage them to follow simple steps to support your effort.
Most of your customers will be delighted to know that your hotel is taking action to reduce its negative impact on the environment, and will want to know more about the simple measures they can implement to avoid wasting energy and reduce the environmental impact of their stay.

Explanations

Suggested communication strategy
1. Let your customers know that you protect the environment!
2. Inform your customers that energy-saving practices can greatly limit the environmental impact of your business of and of their stay.
3. Inform them of simple step they can take to support your effort!
What should you say about your environmental policy?
• You should announce the environmental objectives you have set for your hotel and give information on the measures implemented to reduce environmental impacts. • To begin with, is important to explain that reducing energy consumption at the hotel is part of your environmental strategy. You can say, for example:
- "Hotels around the world use a great deal of energy, most of it fossil fuels, generating enormous quantities of greenhouse gases. To improve the energy efficiency of our hotel and avoid wasting energy, the hotel is taking steps to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, and help preserve the natural resources of our planet."
• If the resulting energy savings are reinvested in new environmental measures, or if they serve to improve the quality of service to customers (higher food quality, for instance), you should make this known to your customers!
What simple measures can be recommended to customers to limit energy consumption?
• The table below gives example of advice that you can give to your customers. Do not hesitate to add your personal touch, and make sure that the message communicated is appropriate for your establishment.

Implementation

Eight simple steps you can take to reduce energy consumption in the hotel, while maintaining comfort and convenience!
Help us economise electricity:
• By taking care not to waste electricity, you help preserve our natural resources and our countryside. We encourage you to turn off electrical devices when they are not is use:
1. Turn off the air conditioning when you leave the room,
2. Turn off the lights when you leave the room,
3. Avoid leaving the television set in standby mode.
Help us reduce energy use for heating and air conditioning:
• Are you aware that nearly half of all energy consumed in a hotel is used for heating and cooling, and that a good deal of this energy is simply wasted?
4. Keep windows and doors closed when heating or cooling is in operation,
5. Maintain reasonable temperatures in the room (20-22°C in winter, 25-26°C in summer).
Help us economise water:
• Water is a precious resource for humanity. Use water carefully, and you will conserve this resource, and also reduce the large amounts of energy used to heat it!
6. Take a shower rather than a bath,
7. Tell the room cleaner that you want to keep your bath towels for several days,
8. Inform the staff if you notice a water leak.
Thank you for helping us attain our environmental objectives
&
Feel free to submit your suggestions to the hotel manager for reducing energy consumption and boosting the hotel's action to protect the environment.
Media supports to be used (oral communication, leaflets, brochures, video films, etc.)
• The prime point is to engage in active communication (oral, written, visual).
• If you want to inform your customers of your environmental policy and the measures they can take to reduce energy consumption, we recommend you use a written document – a short note, leaflet or brochure. This document can be distributed at the reception desk, or placed in guest rooms.
• To ensure that your communication has an optimal impact, it is important that reception desk staff inform new customers that the hotel has put in place an environmental policy.
• Your energy policy can also be highlighted on your website.

Benefits

Cost savings
Energy savings:
• Involving your staff in an energy efficiency action plan is an economical measure that will ensure substantial energy savings and cost very little.
Address environmental expectations of customers
Raise customer awareness of environmental issues:
• Customers are more and more concerned about the environment, and are increasingly attentive to environmental policy in hotels. They will appreciate being informed of the measures you have implemented to make your enterprise more sustainable.
Reduced CO2 emissions
• It is difficult to quantitatively evaluate the reduction of CO2 emissions obtained when customers participate in your efforts, but you can be sure that it is substantial.
• Just one example: • For a hotel of 1,000 m² that uses 350 kWh/m² of energy annually (47% electricity, 53% gas), and applying emission factors for France, a 10% savings in energy consumption represents:
4.05 t CO2 eq of avoided emissions each year
Emission factors for electricity in France: 84.3 g CO2 / kWh.
Emission factors for natural gas in France: 331 g CO2 / kWh (Source: ADEME).

Constraints

Implementation:
• Ease of implementation: Easy(*)
• Best time: can be put into place at any time.
• Relevant initial situation: the hotel has no customer information strategy pertaining to its environmental policy, and does not inform customers of simple steps they can take to save energy.